GARDEN GROVE : Strawberry Festival Parade Reigns Today

Thousands of people are expected to line up along the 2 1/2-mile route of today’s Strawberry Festival parade, the centerpiece of a four-day Memorial Day weekend event that has grown in popularity over the years.

Starting at 10:30 a.m., the parade begins at Chapman Avenue and 9th Street, moves on to Euclid Street and ends on the festival grounds at the Village Green at Euclid and Acacia Parkway.

Actor Earl Holliman, who played Sgt. Bill Crowley on the long-running television series “Police Woman,” will be the grand marshal. Several other sports, television and movie personalities are expected to join the parade. Organizers expect 75,000 people to attend.

The festival began Friday when a giant strawberry shortcake was cut into more than 4,000 pieces. During the weekend, visitors can enjoy carnival rides, games, arts and craft exhibits, entertainment and an assortment of strawberry foods.

Admission is free.

Organizers say they hope to raise more than $200,000, which will be donated to local charities. More than $2 million has been raised since the festival became an annual event in 1958.

Civic leaders founded the festival to promote Garden Grove as one of the biggest strawberry producers in Orange County, though now less than 100 acres are devoted to the crop’s production.

But attendance at the festival has boomed. Last year, more than 200,000 people attended the festival, festival President Stu Finkelstein said.

“All the profits go back to local charities,” Finkelstein said.

This year’s theme is “Strawberry Country.”

Among the sports and entertainment personalities scheduled to join today’s parade are Vlade Divac of the Lakers, former L.A. Raider Bob Golic, Jonelle Allen of “Dr. Quinn Medicine Woman,” Sharon Farrell of “The Young and the Restless” and Dennis Haskins of “Saved By the Bell.”

Following the parade, the Kelly Rae Band is scheduled to perform at 1 p.m.; the annual talent show begins at 7:30 p.m.

On Sunday, the festivities begin at 1 p.m. A festival favorite, the baby beauty pageant, will be held at 4 p.m. Jennifer Hanson, this year’s Miss Garden Grove, and her friends will perform in a musical review at 7:30 p.m.

The festival ends Monday with a redhead contest, in which trophies are awarded to contestants with the best strawberry-blond hair, most freckles and other strawberry images.

Meanwhile, the Garden Grove Library will be closed today because of the festivities. Streets next to the library will be blocked off from 7 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. for the parade.